Friday, June 2, 2017

WWE Extreme Rules Preview

RAW returns with WWE Extreme Rules live this Sunday night on the WWE Network at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. All the major RAW titles will be on the line as well as the #1 Contendership to decide on who will face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at WWE Great Balls of Fire. If you can't catch the show this Sunday, join Triple Threat CLE on Monday as I will have the shows full recap.

- "#1 Contenders, Fatal Five Way, Extreme Rules Match": Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt: All five men competing in this match have been a WWE World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Universal Champion or an NXT World Champion. First up we have Roman Reigns who is a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and has battled Brock Lesnar in the past. Next up, we have former WWE Universal and NXT World Champion Finn Balor. Balor looks to win back the title that he was stripped of due to injury and would battle Brock Lesnar for the first time ever. Samoa Joe is up next as a former NXT World Champion and looks to battle and defeat Brock Lesnar for his first WWE Universal Championship. Seth Rollins is a former WWE World Heavyweight and NXT World Champion and has battled Brock Lesnar on a few occasions in the past. Finally there's the eater of worlds and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Bray Wyatt. Bray nearly had his first run in with Brock Lesnar last year, but injuries to Bray forced the fued to never take off. Which one of these five men will come out victorious and go on to battle Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WWE Great Balls of Fire?

- "WWE Intercontinental Championship Match, If Dean Ambrose Gets DQ'ed He Loses The Title": Dean Ambrose (c) vs. The Miz: Dean Ambrose arrived on RAW and stated that since Brock Lesnar was nowhere to be found, then he was declaring the WWE Intercontinental Championship as the top title on RAW. The Miz would go on to defeat Finn Balor and Seth Rollins in a Triple Threat Match, making Miz the new #1 Contender to the title. Two weeks later Ambrose defended his title against Miz on RAW and lost by DQ after low blowing Miz, but retained his title. Miz went on to complain to RAW GM Kurt Angle about Ambrose purposely getting DQ'ed to retain the title. Angle officially announced Ambrose vs. Miz at WWE Extreme Rules for the WWE Intercontinental Championship with a special stipulation. If Dean Ambrose gets DQ'ed, then Miz will automatically win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The following week, Miz would interfere in Ambrose's match against Elias Samson and purposely get Ambrose DQ'ed, sending a message that the title will be Miz's if that happens at WWE Extreme Rules.

- "WWE RAW World Tag Team Championship, Steel Cage Match": The Hardy Boys (c) vs. Sheamus and Cesaro: Last month at WWE Payback, The Hardy Boys defeated Sheamus and Cesaro to retain their tag team titles. Sheamus and Cesaro would go on to turn heel, attack The Hardy Boys and blame them for stealing their moment at Wrestlemania 33. Sheamus and Cesaro would go on to win a five team Tag Team Turmoil Match on RAW and become the new #1 Contenders to the tag team titles. Matt Hardy went on to battle and defeat Sheamus in a singles match on RAW, granting The Hardy Boys the rights to pick a special stipulation for their tag team titles match at WWE Extreme Rules. The Hardy Boys decided to pick a Steel Cage Match as their special stipulation for their title defense.

- "WWE Cruiserweight Championship, Submission Match": Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries: Last month at WWE Payback, Austin Aries defeated Neville, however, it was by DQ, allowing Neville to retain his title. Neville continued to enlist the services of TJ Perkins, who attacked and injured Aries' leg. Aries would return, with the injured leg and make the save as Perkins was attacking Jack Gallagher the following week. Aries went on to defeat TJ Perkins on an episode of 205 Live and in the process earned himself another title shot against Neville at WWE Extreme Rules. With Aries currently using The Last Chancery as his submission finisher and Neville using the Rings of Saturn submission as his, it was officially announced that their match at WWE Extreme Rules will be a Submission Match.

- "WWE RAW Women's Championship, Kendo Stick On A Pole Match": Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Bayley: Last month at WWE Payback, Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley to become the new WWE RAW Women's Champion. Alexa immediately crowned herself the new queen of the RAW Women's Division after claiming the title. Bayley would confront Alexa face to face and immediately invoke her championship rematch at WWE Extreme Rules. Alexa and Bayley began brawling, which ended with Alexa unloading on Bayley with a kendo stick. Alexa continued her kendo stick attacks a week later, as she attacked Mickie James with it, forcing Bayley to make the save. RAW GM Kurt Angle officially announced that Alexa and Bayley's title match will now be a kendo stick on a pole match.

- "Mixed Tag Team Match": Rich Swann and Sasha Banks vs. Noam Dar and Alicia Fox: Rich Swann and Noam Dar have been involved in a feud over on 205 Live the past few months. Swann who's good friends with Cedric Alexander was upset with the way Alicia Fox kicked Alexander to the curb for Noam Dar. Swann began secretly sending Alicia packages, which Noam took the credit for as gifts from him. Swann finally revealed it was him all along, making Alicia dump Noam for Swann. Swann then dumped Alicia and said that this was revenge for what she did to Alexander. Since then Alicia has gotten back with Noam Dar, patching things up and have looked to make Swann's life a living hell. Swann has gone out and gotten Sasha Banks to back him up as his partner to battle Noam and Alicia at WWE Extreme Rules.